Our main practice is Sunday: 9 am to 12 noon
We have 3 – 30 minute zazen (sitting meditation) periods, each followed by a 10 minute kinhin (walking meditation) period:
9:00 AM Zen, any X. Minutes
9:40 AM Zen, any X. Minutes
10:20 am zazen
During the 2nd and 3rd zazen periods, the teacher (roshi) is available for individual interviews and instruction (dokusan). Your senior student mentor will explain how to get on the interview schedule. After the final zazen period, we hold service and Roshi gives a dharma talk, except for the first Sunday of each month when we hold council. All members and visitors are invited to participate in services and council.
Monday Evening: 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm
Zazen and dokusan with Roshi
Wednesday Morning: 7:00 am to 8:10 am
Zazen and dokusan with Roshi
Visitors are welcome at any practice time but if convenient, we recommend that your first visit be to our Sunday practice program.
On your first visit, we ask that you arrive no later than 8:45 am. You will be greeted by one of our senior students who will show you around and provide initial meditation instruction.
Upon arriving, remove your coat and shoes in the foyer. You will be introduced to other members and to Joan Roshi. Then a senior student will conduct an introduction to Zen practice during the first meditation period usually in the downstairs study.
During this introduction period the senior student will provide an overview of Zen as practiced at HCS. Please use this time to ask questions that you may have. Also, please discuss any physical limitations or other issues with your instructor so that (s)he can offer suggestions and adjustments. There will also be a short (5 or 10 minute) sitting to acclimate you to sitting and to provide advice on correct, comfortable posture.
After 30 minutes, the bell will sound twice. This signifies the end of the sitting period Bow to the wall, hands in gassho. Take your time getting up, as your legs may have gotten stiff, and your feet may even be numb. Do not attempt to rise until you’ve regained circulation in your feet.
When you rise, face your cushion and bow once. Then turn and face the center of the room and stand with your hands in gassho. The clapper will strike, and we bow together to the center of the room. Now turn to your left. When the clapper strikes again, you place your hands in shashu and start walking very slowly in a mindful manner. The pace is one short step per breath. The clapper will strike once again, you bow and walk downstairs at the leader’s pace.
For your second visit: On entering the zendo for the first sitting period, select a seat, bow once to your cushion, turn and bow to the person sitting across the way and take a seat facing the wall.
You may notice during the second and third sittings, meditators leaving and returning to the room. They are going to and from interview (dokusan) with the Roshi. When you arrive at the zendo, there will be a dokusan sign up sheet on the dining table. Please take note of the names of the two people before you on the schedule. When the person two in front of you returns to the zendo, rise, bow to your cushion, turn and bow to the person across from you, and quietly move downstairs to the waiting chair. You will hear a hand bell ring, which signifies that the Roshi is ready for the next student. At the door, bow to the teacher, bow again behind the student zabuton, take your seat, and bow again to Roshi. When your interview is complete, bow to the Roshi, get up, walk to the door and do a final bow.
At the end of the third sitting, the time-keeper (jikydo) will sound the bell twice as usual and announce “Prepare for service (or council)” at which point students will proceed to the Buddha hall. The service includes chanting of sutras and the offering of incense After the service, the Roshi will give a dharma talk which is a discourse on a particular theme or point of practice.
During council, the sangha sits in a circle. We light a candle and place it in the middle of the room with a talking stick. Someone will offer an intention for the council meeting. When new members are present, we will do introductions. The main purpose of council is for each participant to share their practice. The idea is to speak and listen from the heart. Anything that is said in council is held in confidence. When you want to speak, pick up the talking stick. When finished speaking place the stick back in the center.
To conclude council, a participant will offer a dedication of merit. At the end of council and dharma talk, we chant the Four Vows, then stand, one gong will sound and we bow to each other.
We hope that you will find or have found your first visit a welcoming and enriching experience. Please complete the New Student information sheet, including your email address and/or phone number. The senior student who gave you the “Introduction to Zen” will be assigned as your mentor. Please feel free to contact your mentor regarding any further questions that you may have about your first visit, about Buddhism in general, or Zen practice in particular.
Lastly, since this is a self-sustaining organization, we hope that you can make an offering in the dana bowl before you depart.
We hope that you will practice with us regularly and consider becoming a member.
* Shashu is performed by placing the tip of the left thumb as close to the left palm as comfortable and making a fist around it. Place the fist in the center of the chest and cover it with the right hand. Keep the elbows away from the body with the forearms parallel to the floor.
** Gassho is performed by placing the hands palm to palm slightly in front of the chest with the arms parallel to the floor.